BATON ROUGE — Ranked No. 6 in the nation and leading the Southeastern Conference Western Division, the LSU softball team ranks among the nations best in several statistical categories after the NCAA released it’s first statistical figures of the 2007 season.
The Tigers (40-6, 14-4 SEC) go into this weekend’s doubleheader at Mississippi State ranked fifth in the nation in winning percentage at 0.870. There are currently only four teams with better records in the NCAA, with no team having fewer than two losses this season. LSU is tied for its best start in school history, matching the 40-6 starts from 1998, 1999 and 2006.
In addition, the Tigers are ranked second nationally in earned run average at 1.14, behind only No. 1 Tennessee in the NCAA for the best team ERA this year, fifth in doubles per game at 1.70 and 10th in batting average at .326. LSU leads the SEC in doubles and comes in second in ERA and third in batting average.
Among the Tigers’ other Top 25 rankings nationally are No. 19 rankings in both slugging percentage and fielding percentage. LSU comes in at No. 21 with a 5.91 scoring average, while raking 24th in stolen bases per game at 1.70. In addition, the Tigers rank No. 59 with 0.80 home runs per game.
In just 46 games so far this season, LSU is tied for the fifth most home runs in a single season with 37, surpassing all three years of play in the 1990’s, along with 2002 and 2005’s home run totals. The Tigers have also recorded the seventh most stolen bases in school history with 78.
Individually, the LSU pitching staff is among the best in the nation. Senior All-American Emily Turner ranks 27th nationally with a 1.25 earned run average, while ranking 57th in strikeouts per seven innings and 8.1 and 67th in victories with 13. Sophomore Dani Hofer ranks 11th in strikeouts per game at 10.5, is 20th in wins with 17 and ranks 40th in ERA at 1.37.
At the plate, senior two-time All-American and USA Softball National Player of the Year Finalist Leslie Klein ranks 10th with 0.38 doubles per game, 52nd with a .417 batting average, 55th with 0.93 RBIs per game, 72nd with 0.42 stolen bases per game, 73rd with a .699 slugging percentage and 74th with 0.07 triples per game. The Sunrise, Fla., native, broke the LSU career records for RBIs and total bases on Wednesday and currently holds the career school records for batting average, slugging percentage, doubles, RBIs, total bases and multiple-RBI games.
A first-year starter in 2007, junior Dee Dee Henderson ranks 21st with 0.61 stolen bases per game and 67th with a .410 batting average. Having her best year at LSU, junior Killian Roessner is 86th with 0.29 doubles per game and 87th with a .398 batting average. Freshman Rachel Mitchell ranks 72nd with 0.59 walks per game.
With only four regular-season weekends remaining, LSU travels to Starkville, Miss., for an SEC doubleheader against Mississippi State on Saturday at 1 p.m. The series, originally scheduled for the mid-week, was pushed back to the weekend and will serve as the Tigers final doubleheader SEC series. LSU will then return home for a mid-week game against cross-town rival Southern on Tuesday at 6 p.m., the last home mid-week game of the year.